Elemental Processed Chili Peppers’ VR Live Gig

Elemental Technologies has provided the encoding for a live streamed, 360 degree video concert by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The gig, held in Berlin on Tuesday, captured the Los Angeles band live in concert at the Kraftwerk Berlin, and gave fans at the venue and across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland an unprecedented view of the band and the event. The show was the first live concert in Germany to be delivered as a 360 degree virtual reality streaming experience.

The Getaway World Tour is a current concert tour by American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers that is in support of their 11th studio album, The Getaway.

The concert was captured by four Nokia OZO 360 degree virtual reality cameras, each of which included eight 2K x 2K video sensors to produce a full spherical output. An Elemental Live 4K encoder produced the live HD stream for delivery to YouTube.

Viewers were able to experience the 360 degree stream on devices including the Samsung Gear VR, or iOS and Android phones using Google Cardboard and the YouTube app. Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Edge browsers supported viewing in 360 degree. The cameras were placed on stage with the band, in the first row, and above the audience to provide unique panoramic views of the show.

The event was staged as part of Deutsche Telekom’s Street Gigs concert series, and coincided with IFA, Germany’s leading technology trade fair.

Google Cardboard VR rigs were available at IFA, which increased demand for the VR content.

“The staging and the VR capture were set, but the producers were concerned that their existing solution could not encode the output to get a solid, reliable stream at a reasonable bit budget,” said Keith Wymbs, Chief Marketing Officer for Elemental. “We have proven VR encoding solutions, running in software on standard appliances, and with just a week to go to the event we were called in.

“We shipped in equipment, proved we could deliver what we promised, and were ready to go for the gig,” Wymbs added. “Providing acceptable encoding of VR content is demanding, because of the need to provide an absolutely consistent, perfectly synchronized image wherever you turn your head, but we have proven technology ready to go.”

Video production for the concert was provided by tv square gmbh together with IKARUS GmbH in cooperation with Cologne-based veedel Media GmbH. The four OZO cameras were switched live, with the output fed to an Elemental Live encoder.